ADAPTING TO SUIT EVERYONE

We are creatures of habit. Many of us resist change (although we may like it if we deign to give it a try!). We like the familiar. Certainly, if for whatever reason we find ourselves less able or mobile, whatever our age, we still want where we live to feel like home, even if certain things have to be adapted to accommodate our new circumstances.

Indeed, a recent survey into attitudes towards care homes found that people wanted somewhere that felt like home. However, they also wanted it to offer the ambience and facilities of a quality hotel….

What we forget that, when we say what we want, we look at the reality through rose coloured glasses. At home, chances are we’re sharing the bathroom with a partner; perhaps, in today’s multi-generational homes, with our children, and potentially grandchildren. We like the fixtures and fittings of a luxury hotel, but want the cosiness of home.

Fortunately, in the bathroom at least, we can have it all (almost). Living aids are evolving, to become technology that assists but also inspires. Indeed,

disabled aids are actually now becoming trend setters!

One of the latest aspirational gadgets in home design is the smart toilet- a WC that washes and dries. It moves on from the bidet- that icon of 1970s bathroom décor- and delivers a better, more hygienic way of dealing with intimate care.

It’s logical if you think about it: which is a better way to clean- washing, or wiping with a bit of paper? There are added benefits too. As the WC washes you, bowl and bladder matter is thoroughly rinsed away without risk of any transferring to other areas of the body, or being missed. As the WC dries you, there’s none of the abrasion inherent in using toilet tissue.

It’s actually a gadget that’s been around for years in the care sector: Closomat, now the brand leader, introduced the first into the UK almost 60 years ago!

It’s an almost perfect solution for everyone

In the home

If you live on your own and are struggling with intimate care, it means you don’t need to rely on a carer to come in and help, to wipe your bottom. If you share your home with your family, you can be sure of being clean without relying on any of them helping you. And, as it is one of the latest devices in aspirational home décor, younger family members will not be reluctant to accept- and use- your latest living aid.

In a residential care environment

Under new guidelines from the Royal College of Occupational therapists (RCOT), care homes are being urged to install equipment that people would have in their own homes. Regardless, the concept of a wash & dry toilet brings the home benefits. It means care staff can be released for other duties. It means residents feel independent and in control, able to ‘go’ when they want, and be sure of being clean afterwards.

We can’t please everybody all of the time, but, with the right ‘tech’, we can please most of the people, most of the time, in the bathroom at least…

Closomat is the UK’s leading provider of equipment that delivers independent and hygienic toilet solutions. It was the first to introduce wash & dry toilets into the UK. Today it is the brand leader. It is also the only company in the sector to be based, and manufacture in the UK, and offer in-house nationwide sales and after-sales support.

Its website www.closomat.co.uk is now the ‘go to’ resource for assistive toilet technology.

Counting the cost of care

How do you quantify or qualify the cost of care?

Do you look at the £, the financial outlay to contract carers to help?

What about if it is a member of the family, a partner providing the care- what about the cost of their time, possibly their loss of income as they are looking after you rather than working for a company?